Ex-coach charged with sending inappropriate messages to minor

IRA TWP. - A high school softball coach has been arraigned on charges regarding inappropriate messages being sent to a 15-year-old female softball player.

Jared Harris, 23, of Fraser briefly coached jayvee softball at Anchor Bay High School. According to a statement from the Anchor Bay School District, he has been fired.

Anchor Bay officials said the girl was not an Anchor Bay student.

According to a news release from the Macomb County Sheriff's Office, both Harris and the girl were part of a team group chat on a social messaging application.

Harris allegedly began sending private messages to the girl about a month ago with sexual comments and photographs of himself.

Macomb County detectives searched several social media accounts as part of the investigation before forwarding the case to the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office,

Harris was arraigned on Tuesday in 41-B District Court in Clinton Township on one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes, a four-year felony, and one count of using a computer to commit a crime, a 10-year felony.

Harris also was employed as a coach for the HITZ travel softball group based in Chesterfield Township.

He was given a bond of 10 percent of $100,000.00 with the following conditions:

House arrest with tether if released

No use of the internet or computer

No contact with minors.

Harris is scheduled to be back in court on 8:30 a.m. June 11 for a probable cause conference.

In a statement, the Anchor Bay School District confirmed that Harris had been employed briefly as a softball coach and that he had been removed from his coaching job and no longer was affiliated with the district.

It said the school athletic department has been in contact with law enforcement and will assist officers in any way possible.

Contact Bob Gross at (810) 989-6263 or rgross@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobertGross477.

Anchor Bay statement regarding Jared Harris

"Jared Harris was briefly employed by the Anchor Bay School District for Ten days as a JV softball coach. As we do with all employees an FBI background check and reference checks were completed and came back clear. Upon being contacted by the Macomb County Sheriff’s Department, Mr. Harris was removed from his coaching position and is no longer affiliated with the Anchor Bay School District in any way. The Sheriff’s Department did share from their investigation that it did not involve an Anchor Bay student. The Anchor Bay Athletic Department has been in contact with local law enforcement and will assist them in any way possible."